Urban Strife - turn-based zombie survival RPG - now available on Early Access

[Harthwain]

Hopefully it's just a demo thing since I was really interested in this game, it would be shame if I had to drop it.

I mean, it's not really noticeable and the faces unmistakably correspond to their body types genders. I haven't seen any weird pronouns bullshit either, so I think we can rest easy... for now.

It probably wouldn't be as noticeable if there were more than literally two body types to pick from (1 for male and 1 for female). As it stands you're actually picking your character's gender, so the whole attempt to avoid touching the hot potato falls flat.

 

[lightbane]

Does the demo really need 20 GB of HDD space? Oh well, better use a video instead.
The game looks good, it is what Dead State should have been. The body-type thing is a warning sign, but it seems you can make both handsome males and females, so it is probably okay.
No idea if blondes of either gender are unallowed like in Battletech and ME(h) Andromeda.
It does seem clunky the interface, but gameplay is top-notch.

Just imagine fighting an army in spandex...

Or go with American Football gear already. Many 80s movies used that look long before Fallout.

By the way, can you join the Roman larpers as a faction? Compared to the zombie-loving cult, these are probably not as bad, right?

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

NOTE: when I go to this mode, my mouse cursor becomes very sluggish instead of being super responsive.

Strange. Report it as a bug and attach a DxDiag please. On my system (which is by no means a rocket) the borderless window mode is smooth.

By the way, can you join the Roman larpers as a faction? Compared to the zombie-loving cult, these are probably not as bad, right?

If we had more time to explore that avenue we would certainly make it possible (our programmer just put a bounty on my head now). Maybe as a sequel, dunno.

 

[The Wall]

Are all Devs obliged by LAW to be critical-race theorists and gender abolitionists? Do biologicaly accurate games with two genders selection get banned on Steam? Do such games with scientific accuracy of reproductive nature of humans don't get bought by population that is 95%+ not far, far left? No? Then what's the problem? Where are the balls to SAY that 1+1=2? This cowardice based on unjustified fears is contributing to one day, in 5 years, all gender-binary games from Steam will be removed. You are helping to build better dystopia we already live in. Thank You!

*Before you rate me with autistic, I can't wait for black buff trannies to cuddle you to death in your home in Tel Aviv, Infinitron. When the news get posted on Codex, I'll rate it with Honk!Honk!

 

[agris]

Very random feedback USG_Mucifikatorul

Who tucks their flannel shirt into their jeans?

Hard men, that’s who.

 

[jackofshadows]

So I've played some more (cleared the first map) and here's a few thoughts:

- I expected rather x-comish gameplay, turns out it was fucked sideways by Dead State a bit which is absolutely fine but so far it looks like this: you click, a character approaches container, sloooowly turns exactly to it and then you might see that it's empty. I mean, if you intend to leave rate at which the time passes as is and if the time will really matter then I get that - it's a choice: either loot like a maniac but waste a lot of precious extra time or just look for specific generic containers only which you need the most currently. But if that's not the case you gotta smooth this process by not turning it into boring looting simulator, that would be awful.
- AI looks really decent, I liked how some last looter was trying to avoid outflanking and backed down.
- While I was looting and crafting, kiting zombies with xbows time has passed so I went out to the legion boys at 2 am of the second day but still saw the cut-scene "alright you can get away this time but tomorrow...". Also I couldn't interact with ex-priest (?) in the cell.
- Is combat animation slider planned? If not, please make it planned.

a few more questions

What's it for?

Is there a real downside of using HP or they're straight up better in any enviroment here?

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

- The looting part is on the TODO list, animations, mechanic, UI and loot distribution. Same is inventory management. We wanted to fix it in time for the demo, but our quick/shortlist of things to do in the last month had over 100 items on it. We got through 2/3 of it, didn't make it to looting.

- Combat animations slider? You mean like ffwd combat animations like in Total War?

- ALICE kit atm is just cosmetic, but as I said inventory will be completely revamped. So, no promises but items like that might hold a value.

- Hollow Point does maximum damage on unarmored targets, but fares much worse against armor. Try fighting the soldiers and see if it's still good against kevlar.

- You should get 1 free pass from the legion patrol. If the second day they don't aggro if you don't pay, then it's a bug and it should be reported with F10.

Priest answer is a bit of a spoiler so don't read if you don't want to:

Spoiler

The priest quest is either initiated by talking to the Lanista or when you killed ALL the legion soldiers

 

[Alienman]

I like that the animations are slow, everything feels more deliberate. If you change the speed, please set it as an option, well, since I like it. It just translates well into the zombie apocalypse somehow for me, the somewhat slow and somber nature of things with plinking guitars in the background. And yeah, somber except when you have those horror moments of course, but I think it compliment each other well.

 

[Zombra]

Also please put in an option to get rid of all those annoying graphics and mission text so I can get to the important business of stacking numbers efficiently and get this game over with as soon as possible.

 

[Alienman]

By the way, one thing I totally missed, but there are levels to be earned for characters right? I tried looking for a character sheet but couldn't find any.

 

[Mazisky]

Are all Devs obliged by LAW to be critical-race theorists and gender abolitionists? Do biologicaly accurate games with two genders selection get banned on Steam? Do such games with scientific accuracy of reproductive nature of humans don't get bought by population that is 95%+ not far, far left? No? Then what's the problem? Where are the balls to SAY that 1+1=2? This cowardice based on unjustified fears is contributing to one day, in 5 years, all gender-binary games from Steam will be removed. You are helping to build better dystopia we already live in. Thank You!

*Before you rate me with autistic, I can't wait for black buff trannies to cuddle you to death in your home in Tel Aviv, Infinitron. When the news get posted on Codex, I'll rate it with Honk!Honk!

They need to do it for journos, not for the playerbase. If your game get 5\10 on PCgamer because "there aren't trans character" it will still hurt sales.
That's unfortunate but that's how it is

 

[Darth Canoli]

No broom, but the bread roller is deadly.

What about a pitchfork?
Zombie skewer for diner anyone?

And yes, the female avatar is a very new addition and the whole dialogue tree had to be re-written for both genres. So there's bound to be a couple of missed references to "him". Thank you for pointing them out.

As long as you don't put them instead, him pretty much feels like incline.

 

[Alphons]

Finished it, did all the side quests and then reloaded the game and went around murdering everyone (scavengers, moonshiners, Joe's bikers, soldiers and even a couple of people at the Shelter).
RIP Bill and Lucy, died at the port.

Combat is good, both against the zombies and humans. Really top notch sound design, you can really feel it when shotgun blast misses your character and hits a wall behind them. AI is on point, they didn't do anything stupid and I had to reload a few times at the port.

Some feedback:

• Pathfinding has some problems. Before the great purge I was avoiding fighting humans. My team members actually started a fight 2 times, because they didn't follow my character and just jumped into some occupied houses.
• I love setting up ambushes with overwatch. Any chance of adding traps- frag mines, bear traps, etc?
• Zombies had to spend a few thousands on dental or you just wanted to give players loot to barter, because every zombie had 3 golden teeth.
• Some weapon icons didn't fit the UI (Remington rifle I bought from soldiers for example).
• I was caught stealing sheriff's guns from his shed. Any chance of being able to close the doors?
• Make enemies passive/ allow to disarm them after you KOd or killed their entire group. KOd all moonshiners, one was bleeding out so I bandaged him. And then a fight starts because he gets up for another round. And then he goes back down, because he got his knee blasted. I also had to go around finishing off every Legion member (only killed Caesar and 2 pretorians during fight) for the quest to finish.
• Make fire spread more. I was hoping to flush out the Legion from their base during the night with Molotovs, but it only spread on porch, not their entire wooden house.

Some questions:

• If you kill trader Bubba at the Shelter, you get a bunch of warnings of factions becoming hostile: Bikers (main faction), Honest Joe (trader from Little Italy), Roadkill (guy on the radio), but also the Soviet, Hicks clan, Lefty and Righty and a few others. How prominent these smaller factions are going to be? Can you tell us something about them? Are there any others?
• How many zones will be in the full game?
• Can you tell us how the Shelter will work in full game? While the page was disabled, I was able to see a few things (resources, basic upgrades, survivors being separated into residents and refugees, jobs separated between workers and scavengers). While I can guess what ammo press or generator does, what about other upgrades like reading room or jail? Do they unlock something new or do they only help with Shelter morale?
• Are we going to be able to take more than 4 characters outside?
• I was able to kill everyone outside the Shelter (plus Bubba and one male refugee for some reason) without game over. Is it going to be possible to finish the game without allies or even destroy all 3 major factions and the minor ones?

 

[Mazisky]

I am new to this, is this like Wasteland\fallout or more like Jagged Alliance-Xcom? What i mean is dialogues oriented Rpg or strategic game.

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

• Pathfinding has some problems. Before the great purge I was avoiding fighting humans. My team members actually started a fight 2 times, because they didn't follow my character and just jumped into some occupied houses.

If there are issues with pathfinding please report the as bugs with F10

• I love setting up ambushes with overwatch. Any chance of adding traps- frag mines, bear traps, etc?

Mines, claymores, gas and smoke grenades - there are still a lot of things WIP

• Zombies had to spend a few thousands on dental or you just wanted to give players loot to barter, because every zombie had 3 golden teeth.

Loot tables are out of whack (intentionally). In a normal progression you'd barely feed the shelter in the first days, nvm trade for Kevlar helmet and a Barrett.

• Some weapon icons didn't fit the UI (Remington rifle I bought from soldiers for example).

Yep, some late night editing gone wrong. Going to be fixed asap.

• I was caught stealing sheriff's guns from his shed. Any chance of being able to close the doors?

Laugh or not, doors are a royal pain in the butt for pathfinding (tile-blocking in particular). No promises, might come down to what is the smallest of the two evils - a broken pathfinding or tactical fluidity. The mechanic itself is trivial - the implications are major.

• Make enemies passive/ allow to disarm them after you KOd or killed their entire group. KOd all moonshiners, one was bleeding out so I bandaged him. And then a fight starts because he gets up for another round. And then he goes back down, because he got his knee blasted. I also had to go

• around finishing off every Legion member (only killed Caesar and 2 pretorians during fight) for the quest to finish.

Yep, we're discussing something, but we're far from a mature code on that.

• Make fire spread more. I was hoping to flush out the Legion from their base during the night with Molotovs, but it only spread on porch, not their entire wooden house.

Fire actually spreads naturally from tile to tile, but it needs materials with a "fuel" check. We need to double-check all maps and make sure that check exists.


Some questions:

• If you kill trader Bubba at the Shelter, you get a bunch of warnings of factions becoming hostile: Bikers (main faction), Honest Joe (trader from Little Italy), Roadkill (guy on the radio), but also the Soviet, Hicks clan, Lefty and Righty and a few others. How prominent these smaller factions are going to be? Can you tell us something about them? Are there any others?

The are 3 major alignment factions, loosely based on DND alignments if you wish: army (lawful), bikers (chaotic) and cultists (neutral) . All 3 have their evil/neutral/good flavors and its up to you to judge if their actions fit one of those. Urban Strife world isn't black and white. Nobody is innocent when *** hits the fan, we all know that too well. These major factions are actually comprised of local warlords that control the actual territory. These are the ones you'll fight or help, before even seeing the boss. These will vote if they like you as an ally or their faction should declare you KOS. Honest Joe and Kowalski are small, raw examples of how tough these mini-bosses will be.

• How many zones will be in the full game?

We want each warlord to have a territory so thats 24 maps planned in various stages of execution. The suburbs count as one warlord territory (in the full game you'll have to decide if you want bikers/army/cultists to move in). You can reject their help and kill them all, for a challenge, but game will be pretty hard without allies. There will be also three main faction HQs and a generous set of encounters maps on all sort of environments (highways, railway tracks, forest, city, subway tunnels, etc).

• Can you tell us how the Shelter will work in full game? While the page was disabled, I was able to see a few things (resources, basic upgrades, survivors being separated into residents and refugees, jobs separated between workers and scavengers). While I can guess what ammo press or generator does, what about other upgrades like reading room or jail? Do they unlock something new or do they only help with Shelter morale?

Shelter has food / health / morale meters that need to be kept up for everyone to be happy and doing their job. The residents will be your specialists and the refugees will staff your industry (and haul resources as scavengers). So you want them fed and happy. The goal is to make it somewhat self-sustaining but you'll need to work for it a bit. There are also workshops that produce stuff for your use. And defensive upgrades that will raise you survival score for the end game.

• Are we going to be able to take more than 4 characters outside?

Party roster has room for 5 + a guest (you can find it in journal). The limit is designed to allow the hud to be fluid and fit on low resolutions.

• I was able to kill everyone outside the Shelter (plus Bubba and one male refugee for some reason) without game over. Is it going to be possible to finish the game without allies or even destroy all 3 major factions and the minor ones?

Yep, I explained above that making allies is up to you. You can get to the finish killing everyone, but actually managing to survive the end game... that's another feat.

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

I am new to this, is this like Wasteland\fallout or more like Jagged Alliance-Xcom? What i mean is dialogues oriented Rpg or strategic game.

Like Wasteland/Jagged Allliance.

 

[Alienman]

USG_Mucifikatorul About my question, I really need to know Do your characters improve? Level up? Just curious if there is any XP/skill gain for killing and such.

And yeah, especially at Zombra

You can zoom in extra if you hold down CTRL. Zooming out too.

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

Ah yes, sorry. Short answer - not in the demo.
Long answer - our progression system will be similar to somehow to JA2 aka you learn by doing and improve your stats. Overall experience will be used for increasing perks/specialization (which JA2 doesn't have).

 

[jackofshadows]

- Combat animations slider? You mean like ffwd combat animations like in Total War?

Just a speed animation slider, to make it 200%-300% of default one. I like the default speed and don't think it's too slow except for nail gun burst perhaps but in full game the ability to speed up the process of some usual clean-up would be great.

- Hollow Point does maximum damage on unarmored targets, but fares much worse against armor. Try fighting the soldiers and see if it's still good against kevlar.

That's absolutely great.

Also please put in an option to get rid of all those annoying graphics and mission text so I can get to the important business of stacking numbers efficiently and get this game over with as soon as possible.

 

[Alienman]

Ah yes, sorry. Short answer - not in the demo.
Long answer - our progression system will be similar to somehow to JA2 aka you learn by doing and improve your stats. Overall experience will be used for increasing perks/specialization (which JA2 doesn't have).

Nice, that makes me happy to hear. I guess there is always a reason beyond saving the world to kill zombies then.

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

I just watched last night a Russian youtuber go through the entire game without reading one word of help or mission hint. He was pretty confused Honest Joe was pissed about him killing all the moonshiners until chat told him what was wrong, but otherwise than that he managed to finish the entire prologue "blind". So you can do it too Zombra !

 

[Zombra]

I just watched last night a Russian youtuber go through the entire game without reading one word of help or mission hint. He was pretty confused Honest Joe was pissed about him killing all the moonshiners until chat told him what was wrong, but otherwise than that he managed to finish the entire prologue "blind". So you can do it too Zombra !

I know I have no doubts it will be possible to complete the game without knowing what the fuck is going on, walking around shooting shit at random. Is that the design intent? My frustration is that the characters in my party say "I know exactly where to go", the camera pans wildly around the map, and then I am left with no idea where to go and I can't bring that information back up.

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

Yea, the plan was to save all the tips and the help in the journal so you can go back and revise it if you skipped it or just didn't understand on first read. Will get to that as soon as possible.

Also we're looking into a minimap solution too.

 

[agris]

Also we're looking into a minimap solution too.

sounds pop-a-mole. A local map that you gradually reveal as your troops move, and that you can check by hitting the M key? Cool. A minimap? Why?

 

[Alienman]

I don't think a minimap is needed, but a compass maybe.